Monday, July 28, 2014

With 100 days to go until the midterm election, unexpectedly strong bids by several Republican candidates and President Barack Obama's continued sagging approval ratings are boosting GOP chances of capturing a Senate majority.

A battery of recent polling shows Republican candidates mounting competitive bids for at least 10 Senate seats now held by Democrats, including in Iowa and Colorado, states that have been leaning Democratic in recent years. Many Republican candidates have narrowed their opponents' fundraising advantage, according to the latest campaign-finance reports. And a series of international crises has dealt the president some of the lowest approval marks of his second term, weighing on his party's candidates.

This year's map clearly favors the GOP even as Democrats continue to lead on the question of which party Americans would rather see control Congress, according to a compilation of polls by the website Real Clear Politics. The Republican Party also remains far less popular than the president or the Democratic Party, public-opinion surveys show, particularly among women.

But Republicans this year are betting on an anti-Obama message, linking Democratic candidates to a president who is unpopular in many of the battleground states. Democrats, meanwhile, are doing what incumbents typically do when facing a negative election environment: building campaigns around local issues and reminding voters of all the things they do in Washington to help people back home.